Tongs



Patented Sept. 19, 1922.

UNETE T FNT @ht ttl.

ZENA WATTS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

TONGS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ZENA W'Arrs, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented new and useful improvements in Tongs, of which the follow ingis a specification.

This invention relates to tongs, and an object of the invention is toprovide a set of tongs which can easily be manipulated by one hand ofthe user, a weightedhand grip being provided to facilitate the openingor spreading of the jaws of the tongs.

A further object of this invention is to provide a pair of tongs of thenature specified, Which are particularly adapted for household use, suchas removing clothes from a boiler of boiling water.

Further objects of the invention will appear in the followingdescription and accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the improved tongs showing the jaws open.

1 Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the improved tongs sllOWiIlg the jawsclosed.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the improved tongs 1comprise the jaw levers 2 and 3 which are pivotally connectedintermediate their ends by a rivet 1. The portions of the jaw lever 2and 3 outwardly of the pivot 4 thereof are curved to provide grippingjaws as indicated at 5.

and 6 respectively for gripping any object desired. The end portions ofthe levers remote from the jaws 5 and 6 are slightly increased in widthand are bent at acute angles to the enlarged portions of the jaws.providing angled connecting portions 7 and 8 to the terminals of whichlinks 9 and 10 respectively are pivotally connected. The links 9 and 10are also pivotally connected, as shown at 11, to the handle 12. Thehandle 12 comprises the. hand grip 13, which is formed partly by theopening 14: in the handle 12, as clearly shown in the drawing, thehandle 12 is weighted at its lower portion. as at 15 to facilitate theopening of the jaws 5 and 6. In use, when the tongs are lifted orraised, or in other words, when pressure is exerted outwardly from thepivot 4 of the levers 2 and 3, the jaws'5 and 6 are brought together asindicated in Fig. 2 of the drawing for securely gripping any desiredarticle, however when such outward pressure is relieved, the weight ofthe Weighted portion 15 of the handle 12 will cause the handle to movetoward the pivot 4 and spread the aws 5 and 6, thereby eliminating thenecessity of using both hands either for opening or closing the jaws ofthe ton s.

from the drawing it will be noted that all the pivots in the tongsextend in the same direction, and transversely to the direction ofspreading of the jaws, thereby permitting the jaws to be either openedor closed by movement of the handle 12 towards or from the pivot 4.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawing it will be apparent that a pair of tongs has been provided whichcan be economically constructed and one which is durable and efiicientin operation, permitting a firm gripping action of the jaws 5 and 6 withminimum effort of the user as well as one in which minimum effort andexertion will be required to open the jaws.

It is, of course. to be understood that the invention may be constructedin various other ways and the parts associated in different relationsand, therefore, I do not desire to be limited in any manner except asset forth in the claims hereunto appended.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. Tongs comprising a pair of jaws pivoted together and a weighted h andgrip having flexible connection with the jaws.

2. Tongs comprising a pair of jaws pivotally connected, a hand gripconsisting of a handle and a weight depending therefrom and linksconnecting the weight to the jaws.

3. In a pair of tongs, jaw levers pivoted intermediate their ends, jawsthereon, links pivotally connected to the jaw levers at ture.

ZENA WATTS.

